Park police officer charged with DWI

DWI arrests during Fiesta climb.

Updated 10:47 am, Tuesday, April 19, 2011

San Antonio park police officer Scott Warren Little, 25, was arrested early Sunday on allegations of driving while intoxicated.

San Antonio park police officer Scott Warren Little, 25, was arrested early Sunday on allegations of driving while intoxicated.

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Park police officer charged with DWI

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A San Antonio park police officer charged Sunday with driving while intoxicated after he ran a stop sign on the far North Side became one of 275 suspected drunken motorists taken off the road by SAPD arrests during the 11-day Fiesta celebration.

Police Chief William McManus released the statistic Monday and said no drunken driving-related fatalities marred the city-wide event, at least partly because of his officers' efforts.

It was the first year since 2003 that no one died in drunken driving-related crashes during Fiesta, according to published reports.

“We were very vigilant and very persistent,” McManus said.

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Drunken driving arrests by San Antonio police during Fiesta were up 18 percent over the 234 arrests for DWI it made last year. McManus also credited other law enforcement agencies that added scores of DWI arrests to this year's total, along with a state program that provided more than 2,750 free cab rides worth up to $20 to and from Fiesta events.

Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed said she'll release more Fiesta statistics Tuesday, including how many suspected DWI drivers were arrested by all agencies county-wide and how many had to undergo mandatory blood draws after refusing breath tests.

She congratulated San Antonians on their ability to “party responsibly” during such a well-attended party, saying people were well-behaved despite the crowds.

“Our Spurs can win a championship and we don't burn down the city,” she said. “And we can do Fiesta and not kill people on the road.”

At a news conference Monday morning, McManus appeared disgusted by the arrest of Parks Police Officer Scott Warren Little, 25, who was released from Bexar County Jail on a personal recognizance bond around noon Sunday, officials said.

“There's no excuse. There's absolutely no excuse,” McManus said. “We ought to know better, and we will not tolerate it.”

An SAPD incident report states Little was arrested around 2:10 a.m. that morning, when an officer saw him drive a 2011 Jeep Wrangler through a stop sign on the access road of Loop 1604 at Lockhill-Selma Road.

The officer failed a field sobriety test and agreed to a breathalyzer test, which put his blood alcohol level over the legal limit, according to the report.

Little, who has been on the park police for two years, was off-duty, officials said.

The taxi voucher program proved popular enough to run out of funding Saturday despite a last-minute $20,000 boost. Total funding from the state and private sector reached $55,850 but that “can only go so far when you're looking at a city over 1 million population, and during Fiesta, over 3 million,” said Sam Aguirre, a TxDOT traffic safety specialist.

“We were prepared, but we weren't prepared for the entire community to come down at once,” he said.

A VIA Metropolitan Transit spokeswoman said ridership on the Fiesta Park and Ride buses increased more than 14 percent over last year, with 22,812 people transported to and from events compared to 19,961 in 2010.